By BY CHRISTINE HAUSER from NYT Books https://ift.tt/2Y1EjVM
Eight of the 10 most challenged books last year were based on
L.G.B.T.Q. subjects or narratives, the American Library Association said in its
annual ranking of books that were banned or protested in schools and public
libraries.
One
of them parodied Marlon Bundo, Vice President Mike Pence’s rabbit. Another told
a story about a marriage between two men. Other books on
the 2019 list were stories about children and
transgender identity.
“This
year, we saw the continuation of a trend of a rising number of challenges to
L.G.B.T.Q. books,” said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, executive director of the
library association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, which compiles the list.
“Our
concern is the fact that many of the books are age-appropriate and
developmentally appropriate books intended for young people, but they are being
challenged because they allegedly advance a political agenda or sexualize
children,” she said. According to the association, the challenges came from
parents, legislators and religious leaders.
“Libraries are community institutions, intended to serve diverse
communities,” Ms. Caldwell-Stone added. “That includes all kinds of individuals
and families.”
Challenges
to books tend to reflect the times. In 2016, for example, an election year
defined by political debates over
bathroom bills,
immigration and race, several of the most frequently challenged titles shared
themes of gender, religious diversity and L.G.B.T.Q. issues.
In
January, a Missouri lawmaker, State Representative Ben Baker,
proposed a bill that
would subject public library employees to a fine or jail time for providing
“age-inappropriate sexual material.” Mr. Baker, a Republican, said the bill was
inspired by library programming and events like
Drag Queen Story Hour.
The
Office for Intellectual Freedom said that in 2019, there were 377 attempts to
remove books or materials from libraries, schools and universities. Most of the
challenges came from patrons, followed by administrators, political and
religious groups, librarians, teachers, elected officials and students.
The
challenges — sometimes made in a written request, sometimes made via public
protest — are not always successful, she said.
“But the fact that the requests are being made
is deeply concerning,” she added. “We find that young people in particular need
to find themselves reflected in the books they read. And serving those needs
does not take away anything from those people with other viewpoints.”
Of
the 566 books involved, these were the 10 most frequently challenged.
‘George’
By Alex Gino
George,
a 10-year-old transgender child who has secretly renamed herself Melissa,
dreams of playing Charlotte, the female spider, in a fourth-grade production of
“Charlotte’s Web.” “With refreshingly little fanfare, Gino uses the ‘herself’
pronoun to describe how George sees, well, herself — despite a birth
certificate that says otherwise,”
Tim Federle wrote in
The New York Times Book Review in 2015. “George” was also on the American
Library Association’s
2016 and 2017 lists of most
challenged books.
The
library association said some school administrators removed the book because it
included a transgender child, and because they believed that the “sexuality was
not appropriate at elementary levels.” Some who objected to “George” said
schools and libraries should not “put books in a child’s hand that require discussion”;
opponents also cited its sexual references and a viewpoint described as at odds
with “traditional family structure.”
‘Beyond
Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out’
By Susan Kuklin
“
Beyond Magenta” was challenged for “its effect on any
young people who would read it” and over concerns that it was sexually explicit
and biased, the library association said.
‘Last
Week Tonight With John Oliver Presents a Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo’
Written by Jill
Twiss and illustrated by EG Keller
The book, a gay romance between two bunnies, was the brainchild
of the HBO comedy host John Oliver, who described it as a mocking
rebuke of the vice president’s opposition to gay and
transgender rights. The book parodies one written by Mr. Pence’s daughter about
a bunny who observes the vice president.
The
library association said the book was challenged over its L.G.B.T.Q. content
and political viewpoints (“designed to pollute the morals of its readers”) as
well as for not including a content warning. In one instance, a person defaced
a copy of the book, writing: “Girl bunnies marry boy bunnies. This is the way
it has always been.”
‘Sex
Is a Funny Word’
Written by Cory
Silverberg, illustrated by Fiona Smyth
This
sex-education comic book was challenged, banned and relocated for L.G.B.T.Q.
content; for discussing gender identity; and for concerns that the title and
illustrations were “inappropriate.”
‘Prince
& Knight’
Written by Daniel
Haack, illustrated by Stevie Lewis
Josh
Layfield, a pastor in Upshur County, W.Va., met with library administrators to
object to
the book, which is about a prince and a knight who fall
in love, as “a deliberate attempt to indoctrinate young children, especially
boys, into the L.G.B.T.Q.A. lifestyle,” according to the library association’s
field report. It was temporarily removed from the library, but later returned.
In
an interview, Mr. Haack said the “sweeping, epic, romantic adventure that
features two men as the leads,” as a genre, was practically nonexistent in
children’s books.
“I was hoping to fill that void,” he said. “When kids only see a
certain way of being, only white protagonists or straight romances, in the
media they consume, then that is the template for what is normal for them.”
‘I
Am Jazz’
Written by Jessica
Herthel and Jazz Jennings, illustrated by Shelagh McNicholas
This
2014 picture book about being transgender has been
at the center of controversy and a regular feature on the American Library
Association list. Recent challenges focused on its L.G.B.T.Q. content and
objected to the fact that it features a transgender person and confronts a
topic that is “sensitive, controversial and politically charged.”
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